August 17, 1986 Orem, Utah

Dearest Johnny; Roy & Patrice; Bob, Claire, Michael, Laura & Brett; Rick, Jean, Ricky Barbara Jean, Mary Ann & Sarah; and Ron, Ann, Susanna, Jessie, Russell, LeeAnna & Jimmy;

Johnny - we are so exasperated!!! When we didn't get a letter from you yesterday we figured that it had been almost a month since your last letter was written and something was wrong. We both dreamed about you last night - Daddy dreamt that the Bishop announced in church that you were coming home and we said we hadn't heard that but when we got home, you were here! Anyway, the first thing we did this morning was call the MTC and get the phone number of your mission office and Daddy started calling. We have MCI and they don't go into South America and you can't imagine the problems he had and the million numbers he had to dial and then he kept getting the busy signal. Finally, an Elder answered (he didn't identify himself) and said you had had exploratory surgery on your ankle because you had hurt it playing soccer - he said it was in a "resting cast" until you could have a walking cast put on which would probably be this week but that you were okay. Daddy told him to tell you to call us - it is now about 5 o'clock and we haven't heard from you yet today but we hope you will call and tell us an "update" on your condition but we haven't heard from him either. We could understand a little if you had injured your arm or hand but it's different with an ankle injury - please let us know what ankle it was and what the doctors did - we're hoping so much it isn't the same leg that was involved with the gunshot wound. Elder Spencer (John) was in church this morning and asked all about you and said to tell you hello - he and his wife have the most adorable little boy - he said that Elder MaCriss was quite inactive!

Roy - thank you so much for calling us and telling us about the Little Rock reunion. I'm going to write down some questions to ask you when we call you because I forgot to find out all I wanted to know - is Dan Watson finished with his residency and is Robert working for a nursery in landscaping there in Little Rock (We had to smile at Roy because he said that it didn't seem to the "booming" place that he remembered!) Really - Little Rock never did boom during the hot months but places do change when you move away. Patrice - it sounds like you will have a little "breather" from school during the next few weekends - we hope you get to go camping some of the places you directed us to go - they were beautiful! I'll bet it is hard to do a lot of "moonlighting" Roy along with your long hours at work - use good judgment and don't get too tired.

Bob & Claire - how was trip to Hot Springs? I'll bet your children really had a lot of fun. There was an article in our paper the other day about the railroad company sending a lot of Utah people to Little Rock and how they had so many questions about the state - one of the biggest worries was whether or not they could let their children play outside because of the cottonmouth snakes! We laughed about that because we knew they were there but we didn't worry about them Bob, I think you even captured a few. Did you campout or stay in a motel?

Ann & Jean & I had the most fun yesterday. Ann & I met Jean at the Crossroads Plaza about 10 o'clock and shopped - I absolutely couldn't believe it when we discovered it was almost 3 o'clock. Rick had taken Ricky, Barji & Mary Ann on a ward outing overnight and Rob had climbed Mt. Timpanogos the day before so he tended their children - Jean took Sarah and Ann took Jimmy. We had a wonderful time and /reminded us of how we used to do that every Saturday afternoon for many years. We tried on lots of things but we didn't make any major purchases - it was just fun to be together - I especially, loved to learn some of their style ideas and I really should take them with me when I plan to buy something. Mary Ann is better and walking a little more on her leg but that has been a hard thing for her Little Jimmy is growing like a weed and he looks more like the Mellors than he does the Woolleys - Ann should have one out of five look like her side of the family, don't you think?

Daddy's big project for this week has been to fix up our old camping trailer. While we were on our mission the canvas covering tore and the snow stayed on the roof of the trailer for months - as a result all the wood inside was rotted and Daddy had to completely re-build the backend. He had worked a little bit on it over in Lehi but he didn't done anything to it since we moved over here - in fact, much of the material he had bought to fix it with was still in the garage over there, and the trailer was in back of the garage there. He bought new wheels and tires for it and brought it over here and parked it in our driveway and worked on it - he has finished with the backend and now he will start replacing the ceiling. I scrubbed all the cushions - some kittens had been sleeping on them!!! We may decide to have new coverings made for them and I'm going to make new curtains. We would like to take it up into the Uintas for a few days and do some fishing - we had plans to take some of our grandchildren in it this Summer but their school starts next Monday - the 25th. That is my kind of vacation - do you remember all the fun we used to have in that? I can still remember Bob's leg and how Daddy operated on a boil in the trailer and it drained all night - it's a miracle he didn't have complications from that!!!

I'm going to write a little about our situation with our Lehi house and I don't blame you if you don't read it. I'm really writing it more for the "Journal part of my weekly letter. The first of April we put our home up for sale and we had two serious buyers for it - when the first buyer only wanted to pay $55,000 for it we offered it to the second buyer and he agreed to the $60,000 price so we agreed to sell it to him. After that, the first buyer said he would pay that much for it and had the cash arranged for through the Lehi bank. The second buyer had to go through FHA but since we didn't want to go back on our word we said he could have it. FHA kept telling us from one week to the other that it would be closed the next week - we were really patient and finally the first of August (four month later) we went to a closing. We all signed the papers and they promised us the check would be available the next day. Finally, last Monday, Aug. 11th when we kept getting the run around I went over to the Title Company and told them we were hiring an attorney if we couldn't get any satisfaction. Tuesday, we are in the Temple all day so on Wednesday we went to the original loan officer in Salt Lake and when he could see we were serious he arranged for a second closing with a different mortgage company and they promised us we would have the money on Thursday Well - when Friday came and we still didn't have it, Daddy called a million people and I have never heard him speak quite so firmly. They have definitely promised that we will get it tomorrow. I have never seen such incompetent people - the second mortgage company wouldn't issue the check because they didn't have $248.00 that had been paid the first mortgage company for insurance and when we would call the company the only people who would talk to us would be the secretaries and of course they can't do anything. We have surely learned a lot and if any of you want first had information on how to handle things like this we could give it to you!! This is the first time we have ever sold anything without a realtor and I'm sure it will be the last and I'm also sure it will be the last time we will go through FHA - they require the seller pay the closing costs and with this price home they were $2,276.00 - our home here cost us about $300.00 in closing costs!!!!

We really love our home still - would you believe we sleep under blankets at night?? It gets quite warm during the day but not unbearable and it's cool downstairs. Daddy has the yard in tip top shape and it's so pretty!!!

Ron took Daddy & I through his company building - it is so much larger than we had thought it would be and very, very nice!!! Rick is going to love his new work and it sounds like a very promising career - we're excited for them!!!

I'll save some space in case Johnny calls tonight!!!! MONDAY MORNING - JOHNNY CALLED LAST NIGHT ABOUT 10:30 - IT WAS WONDERFUL TO TALK TO HIM - HE'S JUST FINE - HE HAS WRITTEN SO THE MAIL IS BACKED UP SOMEWHERE - HE SOUNDS SPANISH!!!!!








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